Settling In

I am... still malaria-free and doing well. I’m beginning to feel much more settled in here.

OAF Update
The maize fertilizer experiment at the nursery is finished! We shelled all the cobs, then dried the kernels, and wrapped up the whole thing this past week. We are very close to finishing the fertilizer experiment with our farmers, so will likely be able to make a decision about fertilizer pretty soon. I’m personally really happy about how the nursery experiment turned out – I didn’t botch it up! A good result is it looks like we can use half of the amount of one of the fertilizer types (we were expecting to use twice that) which will certainly help us keep costs down.

Harvesting is underway in Kakamega, which is also quite exciting. We’re gearing up for a very busy period – we’re going to be doing all the repayments, which involves quite a lot of logistics (our farmers repay us with bags of maize; these need to be picked up and sold to traders).

We’re also working on a new training session for our members that helps them think about how to spend the incremental income that they earn by growing more maize through our program. We’re looking to encourage them to invest their money in durable capital such as livestock, tools, wood or fruit trees, etc. So as usual we have many things going on, and are hoping that we are able to continue improving the program we’re offering to farmers here.

Media Frenzy
Kellogg’s centennial is coming up, and the school is creating some kind of video montage documenting graduates’ achievements. The school is very proud of Andrew Youn (class of ’06 and founder of One Acre Fund), so they sent a video crew all the way to Bungoma to film Andrew and the work we’re doing. They also decided to interview all the Kellogg students/grads here, so Allana, Paul and I were all asked to pose for the camera. It was pretty fun – Meg Washburn, Director of Media Relations for Kellogg, came out with a crew of people and Allana and I took them to a farmer’s place to do some filming. It was a strange sight, seeing the farmer and a Field Officer work the cameras and lighting. I’m sure it was strange for them too… of course, we also managed to get their huge four wheel drive jeep stuck in a trench. Luckily, we’re in Kenya, so we were able to dig it out with a jembe (hoe) and a lot of pushing! Meg was also kind enough to bring us some great treats from the States, including prosciutto and cheeses – we loved it! I don’t have that footage yet, but apparently there’s a video of me on the Kellogg website from an interview I did just before graduation (I haven’t been able to see it because the connection speed here is so bad). Let me know what you think - http://www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/Programs/FullTimeMBA.aspx.

Birthday Fun
Our housekeeper, Mary, has two adorable sons. Emmanuel (Manu) and Delvin (Davy) had their birthdays recently (they turned 4 and 10), so we decided to celebrate with a big party for them and their friends. Paul was the Party Chairman, and assigned each of us a party task. I was put on cake duty, which was pretty exciting! Delvin’s turning into quite a little cook, and helped me with the baking. He and Manu were pretty excited – here’s a fun picture of them licking the cake batter from the bowl (they were jumping around, they were so excited).

It ended up being quite a party! We had 26 kids come, and entertained them with Pin the Tail on the Donkey, Dizzy Bat, Sack Races (in which the really little kids were put in the sacks and carried through the relay), face painting, banana milkshakes, a magic trick (which Paul taught Delvin to do, and Delvin performed for his adoring fans), singing and poems by the kids, soccer, and one of their favorites, a totally impromptu game that involved Ian grabbing a bag, chasing the kids, and sticking it on their heads. Hilarious! The cake was a hit, thank goodness – Mary and the kids seemed to really like it. It was a lot of fun, and we got to know the neighborhood kids a little better. One of my favorites is a tiny little thing called Marion – she always has a super intense look on her face, and yells “Jambo!” at the top of her lungs whenever she sees you coming by. Here’s a pic of Marion, her sister and some friends (she’s the one with the hat).

We were exhausted afterward, so relaxed for the late afternoon before having a big goodbye dinner for Allana (she’s heading back to Kellogg). I made a cake for that too – we’ll miss her, she’s been a great colleague (and roommate for me!).

The Fun Stuff/Highlights

• Using the shower in my house for the first time ever (we’ve had it for a month but hadn’t yet had the fortune of both water and electricity working to take a warm shower). Unfortunately we haven’t had that fortune since!
  
• Training a group of field officers at farmers’ homes. It was great to see them work so well with the farmers and with each other!
  
• Seeing the kids at the birthday party sing and recite poems together. They put Special K! to shame
  
• Doubling over with laughter while watching Ian charge at the kids, getting them to scream “GIVE ME A HOT DOG!!!” at the top of their lungs. It was hilarious – and then they took their hot dogs, separated the slice of bread from the dog, licked off the ketchup, ate the bread, and slowly ate the hot dog as if they weren’t really sure they liked it. Smart kids
  
• Completing the maize experiment at the nursery – whew, it was a bit nerve wracking to think months of work could have gone down the drain!
  
• Getting phone calls from home (thanks Mom and Barbi!).
  
• Touching base with friends I haven’t spoken to in years – Asad, Francois – it was great to hear from you and I’m so glad you and your families are well!

Please keep in touch, I’m definitely feeling the distance but am doing well. Hope you are too,

Veronica